


Picture

by orangecrow



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Episode: s03e24 The Divine Move, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e24 The Divine Move, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1367335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangecrow/pseuds/orangecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny doesn't really think he's gotten the whole werewolf picture, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Picture

**Author's Note:**

> This is a product of me being a little upset over the season three finale. The Twins had so much potential, and it was utterly wasted. Also posted to my tumblr at [this location](http://orange-crow.tumblr.com/). I don't have a beta reader, so any mistakes are the product of my own grief-stricken writing process.

Danny doesn't really think he's gotten the whole werewolf picture, after all.

When Jackson had first told him, he figured he probably never would. But he'd wound up coming closer and closer to completing one anyway, both by dating a werewolf, and generally just by living in the town of Beacon Hills. Here, danger is loud and brash, and his friends more so.

He'd been hurt at first that nobody had told him. Especially Jackson. But after Jackson _did_ tell him, he's more grateful not to be more mixed up in it than he already is. All those near-misses seeming even closer. And as strong as his curiosity is, his will to survive is stronger still.

His mom calls him downstairs and he's reluctant to leave his econ homework halfway through a problem; he hates losing his train of thought. Danny heads down the stairs though, and sees his mother holding the door open for the one person who gave him the most grief over the whole werewolf issue. And, seeing Ethan now, even after seeing him in the school stairwell not three hours before, he wonders if he made the right choice. Maybe he's secretly a daredevil.

"Hey," he greets Ethan, despite having said goodbye earlier. He jerks his head towards his room upstairs and his mother doesn't even bat an eyelash. Four years ago, he didn't even have a door on his room anymore, and now she's fine with him having boys over, door closed and everything.

Ethan follows him silently, feet even quieter than Danny's socked ones on the carpeted stairs. He's been here before, once or twice. But this may be the first time Danny's actually really _noticed_ him, the way he tilts his head, the way his nostrils flare a bit. Danny knows he's smelling what's cooking for dinner, just from the ingredients his mother has assembled in the kitchen; he knows he's listening to his sisters whispering to one another when they pass by their open bedroom door on the way to Danny's.

"I didn't know you..." Ethan trails off, voice soft, when Danny closes the door behind them. He knows what he's trying to say. He knows Ethan noticed matching dark braids and sets of grey eyes, on their trip down the hall. Their giggles even sounded alike.

"People can usually only tell them apart by the scar on April's lip. They were out riding their bikes when they were six and she ran into the neighbor's brick fence. Alex probably cried more than she did."

Ethan nods, understanding and slightly hollow. Like he wants to laugh and sob at the same time. He doesn't do either, and sort of slumps down next to the foot of Danny's bed. Danny sits down next to him and puts a hand on his knee.

"I don't know what to do with his bike." There's a crease between his eyebrows that begs for practicality, warring with the hysterical movement of his Adam's apple as he swallows.

Danny doesn't know what to do. So he threads his hand in Ethan's hair and pretends not to notice when Ethan buries his face in his shoulder and his shirt gets damp. He just pets Ethan, knowing that a trip to _The Jungle_ isn't going to be what gets him over this breakup.

After a while, Ethan's murmuring - Danny's not sure if it's to him, or to himself - about how they're on their own again, how hard it'll to find a pack with their reputation, how it's easier for him, but as a set, they never seem _good enough_. About how Aiden _tried_.

There's something about Scott and Lydia in there as well, and Danny's happy to not ask. He's glad he doesn't have the whole picture. Hopes he never will. But the picture is clearer now, and softer around the edges for it. It's painful in a different way than you might think, being about fanged beasts with massive claws.

His hand is making patterns on Ethan's strong back when Ethan lifts his head, shaking it. "God. I'm so sorry. I know you didn't want anything to do with all of this." An honest, guilty look covers his beautiful face. "I didn't think. You were just the only person who knew about him, but you didn't..." Danny kisses the top of his head and knows that if things were just a little bit different, then he could see himself loving a man like Ethan for the rest of his life.

"It's ok," he assures Ethan.

They sit for a while. It's almost time for dinner, and Danny's thinking about inviting Ethan anyway, even though he won't accept. That he can't sit at a table with his family. That they're broken up. But Ethan's getting up and opening his window, avoiding the topic altogether.

Ethan's eyes are rimmed with the tiniest bit of red as he studies Danny, one hand braced on the windowsill.

"You'll Skype me, when you get settled," Danny finds himself saying. Because he can't do this. Not completely. He's too curious, for one, and he's too aware that it's exactly what the both of them need.

Ethan nods. He even smiles a small smile, shy and complete with perfectly blunt teeth. And it's a picture Danny can't help but be a little heartbroken over, after everything's said and done.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos keep me motivated!


End file.
